Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 12 June 2018.
Well, the matter of a congestion charge will be a matter for Cardiff council. With the metro, the fundamental principle of the metro that I wanted to ensure was there was that it would be extendable. That means, of course, the metro had to look like other modes of transport, such as light rail, as light rail's far easier to extend than heavy rail. The first example of that would be the line down to the bay here in 2023, but there are other phases. The east of Cardiff is badly served by the rail network—Cardiff parkway will improve the situation, but that's not enough in and of itself. In the future phases of the metro, there are plans to look at light rail/tram, for the eastern part of Cardiff. I've seen the maps to make sure that the gap that does exist there is filled in in the future. So, the metro map as it is is not meant to be the full extent of its reach, but there will be the opportunity to extend the metro via light rail into parts of Cardiff that have been poorly served in the past.